A thunder in our hearts
by Smoochynose
Summary: When a crazed fan shoots Ladybug, Alya and Nino suddenly get thrust into the shoes of the city's heroes. Prince Charming isn't going to go down easy though, especially when his Sleeping Beauty is his possessed object.
1. Part I

A/N: The title comes from a line in the song 'Running up that hill'. In particular from the Placebo version of the song, which the 'deal with god' sounds a lot more like a deal with the devil (or a Hawkmoth) because of the tone.

This fic was inspired by another fic over on AO3 that was inspired by a comic where Marinette was Adrien's akuma object because she was the most important thing to him. I can't find either to credit but will if I see them. Because that idea killed me and now I have pages of paper lying around where I had to get it out of my head.

I also needed Chat Noir!Alya and Ladybug!Nino for reasons.

* * *

 **A thunder in our hearts**

 **Part I**

* * *

It was halfway through lunch-break and Marinette was watching her friend tap away on her phone. From the comments she was making under her breath she was either getting into another shipping war on Tumblr or she was dealing with one of the followers on the Ladyblog she was getting into an increasingly antagonistic relationship with.

"Oh you think so," Alya growled, "Well, Ladybug5ever129, I'll show you just how much you really know."

"You shouldn't let them wind you up, Alya. If they're so much of an issue, then just ban them. It's your website."

Alya let out a frustrated moan. "I know. If they didn't post such good photos I would. They've been bullying my other readers."

"Alya."

"I know. But look!" The redhead held up her phone so Marinette could see a high resolution photo of Ladybug mid-swing. There was an uncomfortable pit in her stomach as she realised it was taken just a block or two from her home. They had managed to follow her that far?

"Alya, you can't let them continue being nasty to people just because they get you good photos of Ladybug."

"I know. It's just they're so shiny and clear."

Marinette could understand Alya's feelings to a small extent. Due to the unpredictable nature of akuma attacks and how quickly Ladybug and Chat Noir had to leave afterwards, most of the available photos of the pair in action were taken from standard smartphones rather than professional equipment. However shiny photos were no reason to tolerate internet trolls. Especially when it was a website that was your responsibility to maintain.

Her disapproving look made Alya cave. Not that it would have stopped the girl if she hadn't wanted to.

"Fine. I'll ban them from posting on the Ladyblog. They were creeping me out anyway."

"Don't worry. I'm sure all your other readers will appreciate it."

That turned out to be true. Though Alya did have to spend the next week being extra vigilant, as Ladybug5ever129 apparently made several accounts to leave vile comments all over the Ladyblog that needed removing.

"Crazy bitch," Alya could be heard saying regularly.

The first time it happened in close Alya nearly got detention. The second time it happened she did.

"Are they really that much of a problem?" Nino asked at lunch, starting Alya off on a mini rant.

Adrien nodded along in agreement. "Some of the stuff he's been posting… it's pretty messed up." His hand tightened on Marinette's knee.

She looked at him in confusion.

 _Later_ , he mouthed.

"That bitch," Alya continued, "is fucking psycho. She talks about Ladybug like she actually believes they're close and the only reason I blocked her is because I'm jealous of their relationship."

"Really?"

"She says some really messed up things too. Mum saw some of it and now she has this rule about making sure all the windows are locked once it's evening."

Marinette froze and looked at her friend in horror. "You mean they might do something to you just because you blocked them from the Ladyblog.

"Calm down, Mari. It's nothing. Just stuff internet trolls say. Mum's just overreacting."

"Okay. If you're sure."

"I am."

Marinette wasn't. The way Adrien reacted wasn't normal. "So what's really happening," she asked on patrol that night.

"It's like Alya said, this person's crazy. The scary sort of crazy. The way he spoke of you… You know I'm in the modelling industry. The way he spoke about you is just like the way I've seen some of the girls I've worked with spoken about." Chat's hand tightened around hers, like he's afraid she's going to disappear. "The stalked be people who were so were so wrapped up in these delusions it's terrifying."

Ladybug tightened her own grip on his hand. "It's okay, Chat."

"Just promise me you'll be careful."

"I will. Not that I need to. I've got you."

Chat smiled weakly at her. There was obsession and _obsession_. When it came to Ladybug5ever129, he was terrified he knew exactly what side of the line they fell on.

Chat Noir pulled Ladybug into his arms and despite their 'No kissing in suits' rule (one close call was enough for them to realise the distraction was dangerous) he pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead.

Ladybug froze before sinking into the hug Chat so desperately needed. "Everything's going to be fine."

* * *

Marinette was woken early by her phone ringing. She blearily picked it up, half intending to throw it against the wall, and peered through hazy eyes at the caller ID.

"Alya, what are y-"

"It's official!"

"Nino asked you out? That's great."

"What? No. Not that. Quickly check out the Ladyblog."

"Alya, it's too early."

"Marinette, pleeeeeeeaaaase."

Marinette is a pushover. She stumbled sleepily over to the computer and thanked whatever god that was listening that she had the Ladyblog bookmarked. She wasn't sure her typing skills would be up to the challenge this early.

"What am I supposed to be looking for?"

"You'll know it when you see it," Alya sang. Nobody should sound that happy in the small hours of the morning.

Marinette wasn't sure what she was supposed to be looking for but needn't have worried. The second the front page of the Ladyblog loaded she choked on her saliva and jolted into awareness.

"You see it then?"

Of course she saw it. Half the screen was the words 'Ladynoir is Canon' and the other half was a photo taken slyly on a camera phone with Ladybug in Chat Noir's arms as he kissed her on the head.

"Where did that photo even come from?" Marinette choked. That nnight had been two weeks ago and it was only just surfacing now? Not to mention Marinette hadn't even realised anyone had witnessed the moment. She felt angry. That had been private and now it was being broadcasted for the world to see.

"I'm not sure. One of the local news channels broadcast it first since then Twitter's been blowing up with it."

"Twitter?" echoed Marinette.

"Yep. My LadyNoir feeds are loving it. I mean there's a few people saying shit because they actually thought they had a chance with one of them but for the most part people seem really pleased."

Marinette didn't know what to say to that. She clicked on Twitter out of curiosity and LadyNoir was trending. She had no idea that so many people cared about Ladybug and Chat being together.

"This is crazy."

"I know." Marinette could hear Alya's smile across the phone line. "I've just won so many arguments on Tumblr. I can't wait for the next akuma attack."

"Alya," she scolded.

"What? You know I don't mean it like that. I don't want anything bad to happen. I just want a chance to interview Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"I'm not sure they'll want people asking questions. They must have kept quiet for some reason. Besides," she added looking at the photo again, "there's a chance that kiss is just platonic."

Alya scoffed and didn't dignify a response to that with words. Marinette got it. There was no getting this cat back in the bag.

"I'm going back to bed now. I'll talk to you in a couple of hours."

* * *

Talking to Alya turned into being talked at by Alya as the girl excitedly chattered away. It was almost amusing at first but quickly became exhausting as the girl analysed every aspect of Ladybug and Chat's relationship. Some bits were hilariously wrong, some too close to home, and others just too private.

It came as a relief when the last lesson of the day was interrupted by an akuma attack and Marinette could slip away.

The relief didn't last long though as, after an easy fight, she and Chat had to fight off curious fans.

"Is it true you and Chat Noir are together?"

"When did you fall in love with Ladybug?"

"Can I get your autograph?"

Thankfully the police were still on hand from the fight with the akuma and were able to keep the crowds in check as Ladybug and Chat Noir made the rounds. When they had a few minutes left before they had to release the transformation they always tried to spend a few minutes of time with their fans. Public opinion was important and making friendly with overzealous crowds was part of that. It wasn't always her favourite thing but it was important.

She dodged questions on her relationship with Chat, something they unanimously agreed to keep low-key, signed autographs, and allowed a couple of photos to be taken.

"Ladybug! Ladybug!" one fan called. "I love you!"

Ladybug smiled and gave them a small wave. Her earing gave out its two-minute warning beep. "I have to go now. Thank you, everyone, for the support. Have a nice day." She turned to Chat, who looked a little flustered from fielding questions about their relationship with ambiguous answers. He gave her a goofy smile and a wave as he saw her heading his way. God, she loved that boy. "Come on, Chat. Let's g-"

The sound of thunder cracked through the air and for a second everything just froze. Then Ladybug fell forward into Chat's chest. A red glow surrounded her before dissipating, leaving Chat catching hold onto Marinette as Tikki tumbled to the floor at the sudden release of the transformation.

Chat's knees gave slightly as he lowered Marinette to the ground in shock. "My Lady? Princess?" His brain wasn't working like it should. He was aware of the police in the area tackling someone but it was drowned out by the warmth leaking from Marinette.

She was bleeding. She was bleeding a lot. Adrien pressed down on the wound on her back, shaking as the blood just flowed through his fingers instead of stopping. Marinette lifted her chin weakly and looked up at him. Her eyes, her big, beautiful blue eyes, were full of terror.

He didn't understand. They stopped the akuma. Everything was good. So why? Why was Marinette…

Marinette tried to say something but all that came out was a soundless whisper. Her eyes closed and she slumped in his arms.

"Nonononono. Don't do this to me, princess. Don't leave me. You promised to be okay. You promised." He bent over, pressing kisses to her hair and pleading with her.

Absently he was aware of his ring giving one final ring and the transformation being released but everything outside of Marinette was unimportant.

Despair threatened to overwhelm him before a powerful anger consumed his thoughts. Someone did this. Someone had hurt her.

 _You can fix this_ , a voice whispered insidiously in his mind. _You could save her and punish the ones responsible._

"Adrien, no," a small familiar voice called from his side. He brushed it away.

 _You know what I want, Prince Charming. What will you do to save your Sleeping Beauty?_

"Anything."

Adrien could feel Hawkmoth's power wash over him, dimly aware of a small tugging at his hand as it did. When the power receded, Prince Charming stood, lifting Sleeping Beauty gently in his arms.

"I won't let anything harm you again," he promised.


	2. Part II

_A/N: Thanks for all the love this story has received so far._

* * *

 **A thunder in our hearts**

 **Part II**

* * *

The fact that Alya's day started off amazing is probably why it decided to go rapidly south. The amazing part was obviously Lady Noir being confirmed as canon (and if Ladybug5ever129 showed their ugly face again she was going to rub that in their face). Now the truth was out Alya needed details for her readers. How long had they been together? Who asked whom out? What sort of dates had they been on? How serious was it?

Then to make things even better, an akuma attacked. Not that that was a good thing. It just meant it gave Alya a chance to get the scoop. She grabbed her things and rushed out of the classroom, fully intending to get to the scene of the akuma attack.

"Miss Césaire," Madame Bustier called. "I believe you're forgetting something."

Alya stopped and turned over in her head what she could possibly have forgotten but came up short. She looked hopelessly at her teacher.

"Your detention."

Damn. By the time detention finished it would probably all be over.

"Mme Bustier, is there no way to reschedule?"

"It's called 'punishment' for a reason, Miss Césaire. Come along. The quicker you start, the quicker you'll be finished."

Alya looked longingly at the door but followed dutifully. With Madame Bustier it was always best to show some level of repentance. She tended to go easier on you if you did.

Along the way to the classroom, Madame Bustier collected a couple of other students who were apparently trying to use the akuma attack as a reason to skip out on detention. When they reached the room Alya was sat down with a pen and some paper.

"One hundred lines," the teacher explained, "'I must not use profanity in class.' Make sure it's legible. When you're done hand it in and you're free to go."

One hundred lines… Alya could do that fairly quickly. Depending on the akuma, she may even make it in time to see the end of the fight.

Twenty minutes passed and Alya flexed her aching hand as she deposited the lines on the desk at the front. Madame Bustier gave them a once over before giving an approving nod. "You're free to go, Miss Césaire. However, if I hear such language in my class again it'll be twice the amount."

"Yes, Mme Bustier."

Alya calmly closed the door behind her and took off at a sprint, pulling the Ladyblog up on her phone. On one of the message boards one of her more regular followers was live messaging the battle. According to him, Chat Noir had just used Cataclysm. If Alya ran she may make it with just enough time to get a quick question in.

She's about a block away when things start happening.

Alya knows something is up when her phone starts exploding with alerts and messages. She pauses in her running to check what's happening and can barely find any coherency in the tweets filling her up feed but a story starts to emerge as she scrolls further down.

 _Holy shit did that just happen? #Ladybug_

 _Omg Omg Omg #Ladybug #WTF #ChatNoir_

 _Is she okay? #Ladybug #ParisHeroes #I'm crying_

 _Ladyblog, do you know what's happening? #Ladybug #Ladyblog_

 _Did #crazy just kill Ladybug? The way she just fell. #Ladybug_

 _Who cares how she fell? She detransformed. #RIPLadybug_

 _WTF is happening? #Ladybug #Chatnoir #ParisHeroes_

 _Shut up saying she's dead! There's no official word yet. #Ladybug #Ladybug lives._

 _Mon dieu. Did that happen? #ChatNoir #Akuma_

 _Oh my god. Was Chat Noir just akumatized? #Ladybug #ChatNoir #pleasewakemeup_

 _Shitshitshit #AkumaChatNoir #LadybugShot #We'reScrewed_

Alya scrolls through the messages in a sense of shock. There's a poor quality photo of Chat Noir staring ahead in shock as he cradles a dark haired girl in his arms (Ladybug, without the spots) filling up her feed until there's a second twitter explosion.

This time there's more photos and ones of better quality, presumably people had started pulling out phones after Ladybug was shot, of an akuma villain dressed like a fairy tale prince. There's a dark suit jacket with long coattails and his white shirt ruffles around his neck and sleeves, a golden sword strapped to his side. Long blond hair is pulled back neatly with a black ribbon and (presumably green) eyes stare out from a masquerade mask. Most tellingly of the outfit though were the tail he wore and the black ears resting on the top of his head.

In one shot, taken near enough directly in front of him, showed the girl he carried in a bridal lift clearest. She looked like Cinderella, if Cinderella's ball gown was red and black and spotted with short, ruffled sleeves made of white. Her face was tucked against the akuma's chest though from what could be seen she too had a masquerade mask. She was shockingly pale and from the photo Alya couldn't tell if she was dead or just unconscious.

At some point Alya's hand had raised to her mouth and remained there. Things had gone from bad to worse pretty dramatically. One tweet seemed to sum it all up pretty neatly.

 _Who's going to save us now? #LadybugShot #AkumaChat_

Alya didn't even realise that her feet were leading her somewhere until a small force slammed into her chest and made her stumble.

"What the-" Alya looked around for what hit her and froze.

Floating in the air was a small catlike creature, clutching onto something silver. Alya raised her phone, though as a weapon or to take a photo she wasn't sure.

The creature looked up at her with distraught black eyes. "Please," it begged, "You've got to help me." Then it's eyes slumped shut and it started to drop from the air.

Alya's phone clattered to the floor as she reached out to catch it.

* * *

Though he wished he didn't have to, the moment Plagg realised there was no way to prevent Adrien becoming an akuma, he had tugged the Miraculous from his hand and fled, lingering just long enough to meet Tikki's tearful eyes. He didn't want to leave any of them but someone needed to be the one to figure out how to fix this and he was in the best position to do that.

He couldn't do anything alone though.

Plagg needed someone to help him, someone who could stand against his boy, who he could trust not to spill the deepest secrets of Chat Noir and Ladybug, and become Chat Noir and all that entails.

He hated thinking about the next Chat Noir when he still had a partner. It felt like a betrayal, a lack of faith. In circumstances like this it felt even worse.

 _It's not forever_ , he tells himself, _Just a temporary Chat Noir until Adrien is himself again._

And that was important. He needed someone who would be able to stand aside and understand that they don't get to be the one chosen, the one who gets to special, and have the strength not grow resentful because of it.

Plagg takes a moment to consider the humans he knows of. His boy's best friend, Nino comes to mind quickly. Plagg likes the boy. He's a good person, even willing to stand against Adrien's father when he felt the man wasn't treating his son right, and there was no doubt in his trustworthiness. The boy was an almost perfect stand in. Almost.

There was something that all Chat Noirs (the ones that lasted) possessed that Nino lacked. Where Ladybug the sword against akumas, Chat Noir was the shield. Chat Noir was the one required to stand between Ladybug and the akuma and give them the time to figure out how to fix them. That alone required a certain amount of recklessness and lack of self-preservation. It also required a large amount of faith and trust. Sometimes Chat Noir had to sacrifice themselves so Ladybug could continue the fight. They had to believe that Ladybug would use that sacrifice wisely and save them in turn.

There was one person Plagg knew of that embodied that particular trait. He wasn't completely convinced he could trust her, he did remember what she tried to do as an akuma villain, however he didn't really have too much time to be picky.

Plagg flew through the streets, hoping that she'd have stayed true to form and be nearby. A couple of times he found his eyes shutting, only opening again just before he hit the floor. Kwamis weren't made for such physically exertion after their partners used their special move. He needed cheese but he needed to find Alya more. If he didn't find her now, when he had some idea of the area, he wouldn't be able to find her until after the weekend when she would next be in school.

Plagg couldn't wait that long.

And then there she was, eyes fixed on her phone as she walked slowly in the direction he had left his boy. Plagg, having been too distracted by his lethargic thoughts, didn't have time to stop and flew straight into her chest.

Plagg could see the exact moment she spotted him, he eyes going wide in surprise. There was a small hint of nervousness but there was a boldness to her that he encountered in all the best Chat Noirs. Perhaps this was the right decision afterall.

He manages to ask for her help before the exhaustion finally gets to him.

* * *

Alya looks at the small black creature in her hands a moment before scooping up her phone and heading home. It's pretty easy to put two and two together and realise it probably has something to do with Chat Noir. The glint of silver she had seen before was a ring and, though it wasn't the black Miraculous Chat Noir wore, it was similar enough to raise her suspicions. Maybe when the creature wakes up it'll be able to answer some of the questions she has been to know.

More importantly though, it asked for her help. What kind of person would she be if she turned it away?

The thing was still asleep when she got home and managed to stay that way despite the fact she had to fight her way through her many curious sisters to get to the privacy of her room. She gently placed it on her pillow.

Would it need any water when it woke up? Or food? What kind of food would it like anyway? It looked like a cat but Alya wasn't even going to try catching a mouse for it. Would it eat meat? Maybe it was vegetarian. Or vegan. Or just plain fussy. Did it even need to eat? She wasn't sure how the whole magical creature thing worked.

She bit her lip as she watched the creature a bit longer. What if it woke up and left when she was grabbing it something?

She'd just have to be quick.

Luckily her sister seemed to be distracted by something when she left her room so she was able to go to the kitchen without being accosted. She quickly grabbed a glass of water and made up a simple sandwich of cheese and tomato. Surely it was plain enough there'd be no issue.

Unless it was lactose intolerant. Cats were supposed to be lactose intolerant, weren't they? What is she killed it accidentally? Maybe she should make up something else. But she's already left it longer than she wanted to.

"It can just pick the cheese out if it needs to," she decided and took the food back to her room.

As soon as the food got close to the creature, it twitched, and suddenly darted to the plate. In the end it did pick the cheese out of the sandwich, if only to eat it exclusively.

"Thank you, Alya," it said when it finished. This time Alya wasn't in too much surprise to note that the voice was distinctly masculine.

"How do you know my name?" The question triggered an avalanche of others. "What are you? Are you connected to Chat Noir? How do you fly? Are you a boy? Does Ladybug have something like you? Do you know what happened with Ladybug? Is she okay? Why did you need my help?" Eventually she had to pause for breath. The creature took the opportunity to get a word of his own in.

"My name is Plagg. And I need you to become Chat Noir."

* * *

 _A/N: Marinette and Adrien's designs were heavily influenced by a fanvid I saw on youtube. Cendrillion Fanmade PV by LuciaSatalina. The artwork is so beautiful. If you've not seen it yet I recommend watching it. I imagine Marinette looking very similar, though no glass slippers. She's Sleeping Beauty not Cinderella._


End file.
